Sid Lowe

No, we're in trouble.

That 32 is a very, very optimistic view of it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Logic and continuing the same form suggests we maybe don't even get to 30.

But I'm going to be optimistic.

But even in an optimistic scenario, I just...

Yeah, I think it's done, unfortunately.

Yeah, exactly.

And obviously, you look at the first games in charge for Alvaro Abaloa, you expect to win at Albacete.

They didn't.

You expect to win against Levante.

They did.

And you expect to win against Monaco, which they did.

But they scored six goals, which I think does change, if you like, the emotional sense around Real Madrid at the moment.

But you're absolutely right that away at Villarreal is a proper test.

And if they were to come through this, then I think there would be a kind of a feeling of optimism that would come back.

Now, we shouldn't

overlook something here which is that Xabi Alonso won five out of five before they went to the Super Cup and so this isn't a team that was necessarily struggling to get results it was a team where the dynamics didn't feel good a team where they weren't getting the results against the biggest sides and they weren't playing particularly well now obviously what Monaco does is not just register as a victory but register as a game in which they performed and in which in particular Vinicius who was a big part of course of the problem with Xabi Alonso performed so well.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think there's a couple of things here.

And I think that first point is an important one, that they are slightly different crowds.